Luster tries to quiet Benjy's moaning in the present while he continues to look for his lost quarter. He gives Benjy a weed to play with and continues his search. In a further effort to shut Benjy up, Luster helps him off with his shoes and tries to get him to play in the water. This causes Benjy to remember a very significant day from his childhood long ago. In this memory, Benjy is with his brothers and sister playing in the water. Jason, the oldest, is off by himself, as he usually is. Caddy, the only girl and Benjy's favorite, is getting wet and muddy in the water. Quentin is worried she will get in trouble. Versh, Dilsey's son, says Mrs. Compson will whip Caddy for getting her dress dirty. Caddy takes off her dress. Quentin gets angry at Caddy and slaps her. Caddy says she will run away and never come back, which makes Benjy cry. Caddy comforts him and says she won't run away. Benjy notices for the first time how Caddy smells like "trees in the rain".

Luster interrupts again, telling some of the patrons on the golf course that Benjy still thinks his parents own the land. One of the patrons wants him to take Benjy and leave, saying, "folks don't like to look at a looney. Taint no luck in it." In his mind, Benjy immediately returns to his recollection of the day at the creek when Caddy got wet. The conversation is on whether Caddy will get in trouble for her wet and muddy underwear. Versh says that nobody in the house will know that Caddy got wet unless Jason tells. Quentin says no one should tell since Damuddy is sick (Damuddy is their grandmother). Caddy, in a show of brave indifference, says she is going to tell in order to keep anyone else from telling on her. Luster interrupts Benjy's memories again by telling the patrons on the golf course he will see them at that evening's show. Benjy returns to his memory, thinking of how it was growing dark when he and his siblings finally decided to return home. Roskus, Dilsey's husband, is milking the cows when the Compson children approach their home.

In the memories at the creek, Benjy is still called Maury. The children return to their house and Jason tells on Caddy. It does not matter, though, because Damuddy is sick and dying, and no one seems to care about Caddy's dirty underwear. In those memories, Luster is just a baby and Dilsey, the cook, acts as a caretaker to the Compson children. Benjy's memories waver between Luster continuing to hunt for his quarter in the present to scenes of Damuddy's death in the past, moaning softly.

Several of the next memories are confusing and intertwined. Benjy remembers his father's death, Roskus' death, and his brother Quentin's suicide. He also remembers Caddy's wedding, or rather, Caddy with flowers in her hair. Benjy often recalls Caddy smelling like trees, just as he often remembers going to meet her at the gate.

Several of the memories that occur in the resulting scenes are highly significant later, in the context of the other narratives. Luster and Benjy finally reach home, and Luster goes off to hunt for his quarter. Benjy makes his way toward the porch, where Caddy's grown daughter Miss Quentin is in the swing with a boy. Luster comes back just in time to tell Benjy not to go there, since Miss Quentin does not like him hanging around. Benjy remembers a time long ago, when Caddy still lived there--when Caddy was a girl--and he came up on her in the swing. In the memory, Caddy is with Charlie, a boy Benjy does not like at all. The feeling is mutual. Charlie tries to send Benjy away, but he will not leave Caddy. Charlie starts touching Caddy and kissing her in front of Benjy. Caddy tries to get him to stop, but he won't. Breathing heavily and clinging to Benjy, Caddy says she needs to take him inside. Charlie yells at her to come back. Inside, Benjy watches Caddy wash her mouth hard.

Miss Quentin starts to yell at Benjy for "following" her. Luster comes and tries to pacify her. Her boyfriend lights a match and pops it in his mouth. He pulls it out still lit. He offers one to Benjy, but Miss Quentin slaps it away. Luster and Benjy go off to hunt for the quarter, stopping at the gate to watch the schoolgirls pass by. Benjy is immediately taken back to when Caddy was a schoolgirl and he used to wait for her. This particular memory, however, is of a time when he goes to the gate to meet her and she never comes. T.P. tells him she will never be coming back. She has gotten married. Benjy cries inconsolably. He remembers another time when the schoolgirls pass by. He only wants to talk to them, but they run from him. The girls become frightened and run away, and Benjy gets scolded for getting out. Another time, he grabs one of the girls. He only wants to tell her about Caddy not coming home. But the girl misunderstands and her father hits him over the head with something hard. From later chapters, it is known that as a result of this scene, Benjy is castrated. The memories of these events cause increased moaning and crying, and Luster once again scolds Benjy in the present.

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